gamer odd

The State of Destructability

2008-08-06T20:42:00.001-07:00

I can still fondly remember sitting in my dorm room in college, watching a video demonstration from E3 of Half Life 2. It was the first game I had ever seen that really used physics in any kind of meaningful way. I saw boards and pallets being shot apart, and immediately my mind began envisioning ripping entire buildings down, brick for brick. Well, Half Life 2 turned out to be an amazing game, and it did indeed make great strides with its physics and destructibility, but ultimately it wasn't capable of the wholesale destruction I had in mind.

This idea of destructibility in games is something that comes to mind quite frequently. Every time a new game or engine comes out, I read the "fully destructible environments" tag they slap on and think, could this be the one? No, invariably it's not.

What destruction means today, is a trick that takes specific objects and lets them be replaced by broken versions of said objects once they've taken enough damage. Not exactly dynamic. That being said, it doesn't mean that these tricks can't be effective. For instance, the upcoming Mercenaries 2 game allows you to blow up any building in the world, including bridges and other structures. Is the destruction predetermined? You bet. Is that a bad thing? Being able to level a city block with a tactical nuke in a game can't ever really be classified as bad. It simply falls short of my lofty visions.

Crysis is another good example. If you toss a grenade into a makeshift shack during your wanderings on the islands, it will completely blow it apart. Those parts are the pieces of aluminum siding and boards that it was made out of, so it makes sense that that's where the building would break up. Unfortunately, if you toss the same the same grenade into a cinder block structure, you'll probably blow the roof off if it's the right materials, but the blocks are indestructible. Again, still very cool, and I'm not complaining, it's just not there yet.

So are there any games that do have a more dynamic flavor of destruction? Well, oddly enough, the most dynamic destruction I've probably seen, was in a game that is now to old to actually run on my computer. The geo mod technology in Red Faction allowed you to literally tunnel through the ground with a rocket launcher in certain areas. The game even came with a tech demo area that had you in an underground cube with a glass house in the middle. You could use your limitless rocket ammo to drill a fairly lengthy hold into the wall, or you if you were clever, you could carefully cut chunks out of the ceiling and watch them fall. Not bad for the time. How did that technology work in the game? It didn't. The geo mod tech was the very definition of a gimmick. It was sweet stuff, but it didn't show up in the gameplay in any meaningful way.

As far as recent games go, the Digital Molecular Matter technology behind Star Wars: Force Unleashed is definitely a step in the right direction. This tech allows for destruction that is more than just a replaced model. Can you destroy everything? No, but the damage that is done is definitely way more convincing.

Which brings me to my last example. Red Faction: Guerrilla may suck. I don't know, I haven't played it. But regardless, it definitely has the most comprehensive destructibility of any game I've seen so far. You really can bring buildings down in a far more dynamic fashion in this game. Instead of trying to do the building as a whole enough damage to bring it down, you look for specific structural weak points that will cause the whole thing to collapse in on itself.

Even if the game ends up sucking, at the very least it shows a welcome push forward in what is possible in the realm of blowing crap up in a game. I should probably clarify that not every game should have full destructibility. I would even say that most games shouldn't. Unless your game is built around it to some degree, it will definitely break a lot of gameplay mechanics. I think as time goes on and these technologies become more prevalent, developers will learn to use them more and more effectively to not only give us those cheap thrills, but also more meaningful gameplay options the deepen the illusion of being in that game world.

I'm sure that once they do get to the point where I can pull a building apart one brick at a time, I won't be satisfied and will demand that I be allowed to rip things up at the atomic level, but I guess that's just human nature.

-gamer odd

REVIEW: Team Fortress 2

2008-05-17T15:21:00.000-07:00

I guess I had better start this off by saying that I was never into the original Team Fortress game, so I can't really compare the two. What I can do is judge the game for what it is and how it holds up in the current sea of multiplayer shooters.

GAMEPLAY

The foundation for TF2 is the 9 different characters you can play as. Each character has his own strengths and weaknesses. For instance, the Scout is extremely fast, but has little health and no high powered weapons. On the other end of the spectrum is the Heavy, who is as slow as a turtle, but can turn everything and everyone into swiss cheese with his mini-gun. Aside from those two, you have the Sniper, Demo-man, Medic, Soldier, Engineer, Pyro, and Spy.

The great thing about having so many classes, is that it allows everyone to find a style of play that they like. Don't want to go in guns blazing? Well, then be the Medic, and heal people with your Ghostbusters inspired beam gun. Enjoy taking a more defensive support role? Try setting up some sentry guns and health dispensers with the Engineer. Another aspect of this is that it forces you to work together to complete your objectives. When you start a match, you can see how many of each class are currently being played on your team, and choose your class accordingly.

As far as game modes go, there's the standard capture the flag, some variations of a checkpoint capturing mode, and my favorite, goldrush. In goldrush, one team is trying to get a bomb on a mine cart to the end of the map. The map, however, is actually 3 maps that are connected end to end. When the attacking team gets the bomb to the end of the first map, they move on to the second, and then the third. If they get the bomb to the end of the third and final map, they're rewarded by a rather impressive explosion that rips through the ground. If they should fail to get the bomb to the end of a map in the alloted time, then the defending team gets the chance to go on the offensive and push the bomb back. If you have two evenly matched teams, this intense tug of war can go back and forth for quite some time. There is a track that the bomb cart runs along, and to make it move, the attacking team simply needs to stand near by it. An added bonus is that the cart dispenses some health and amo to the attacking team as it moves along. The checkpoint and capture the flag modes are a blast, but in my opinion goldrush offers the biggest thrills.

TF2 was put out by Valve, which means that the game is constantly getting new updates and content. The most recent update added alternate unlockable gear for the medic, and apparently more will be coming for the other characters as well.

GRAPHICS

TF2 has a very unique art style. It most closes resembles Pixar's "The Incredibles". It has an almost cartoony shading and color scheme, but isn't cel shaded. All in all, it's a gorgeous game. The animations are spot on, and it's definitely not a game you ever get tired of looking at.

STORY

Kill, respawn, Kill...

PARENTS GUIDE

Well, if you have a problem with the "story" section above, then you probably don't want your kids to play this game. In spite of its cartoony exterior, it's actually amazingly gory. The gallons of over the top blood thrown into the lush, stylized world, is to me hilarious. Not everyone will agree. There is no profanity in any of the dialog that I've noticed, but you must remember that this is an online game, so anyone with a mike can say anything they want. I recommend just muting the team speak.

CONCLUSION

This game is a blast. It's hard to get bored with it when there are so many different gameplay styles to master among the different classes. Valve has included Xbox Live style achievements into the PC version of TF2, which will keep you busy for quite some time if you want to get them all. This, incidentally, is how you unlock the alternate weapons for the medic. I recommend getting this along with the host of other games it comes with in the Orange Box, but it can also be bought by itself. If you like multiplayer shooters and want to try something a little out of the ordinary, this is a must play.

-gamer odd

Most Anticipated Games of 2008: Part V

2008-05-05T20:50:00.001-07:00

We're finally down to the end of my most anticipated games of the year list. Only took me half the year to do it. Even so, none of the games on my list have come out yet, so it's all good. Here are the final three games to wrap up this series.

ACTION/ADVENTURE

Little Big Planet

This is one game on my list that doesn't really fit into any particular genre. Basically this is side scrolling platormer. That might night sound very interesting, but there's a lot more to LBP that initially meets the eye. For starters, the platforming in this game is based mainly on physics interaction and puzzles. It also can be played cooperatively with friends. The real draw of this game is the creativity it allows for. You can easily create your own highly customized levels and share them with friends. Even trying to explain it really doesn't do justice to the amazing tools that this game's developers have created so that you can be creative. Definitely not a game that will appeal to everyone, but check out the video none the less. This one is slated for a September release on the Playstion 3.

Alone in the Dark

Alone in the Dark is based off a classic game of the same name, and which I have never played. What I've seen of this one though makes me more than happy to give it a chance. This game is set in an accurately modeled representation of Central Park, were there are apparently some strange things happening. Technically, I might have been able to put this one under the shooter category, but there's quite a bit more too it than that. Much of the gameplay revolves around solving problems with simple items you scrounge up. Heck, calling it Macgyver the Game wouldn't be too far from the mark. The interesting thing about this items system is that you don't actually have any kind of normal menu system for seeing your items. When you want to see your item,s you literaly just open your coat and look down at what you've got. Items can be used together in ways you'd realistically expect, and sometimes in ways that you might not. For instance, you could use a bottle of alcohol and pour a line of fuel on the ground leading away from a gas barrel. Then you grab your lighter, touch of the end of the line, and watch it burn down to the gas. You could take that same bottle of alcohol, toss it above your enemies heads, and shoot it in mid air to rain down fiery death. And the list goes on and on. Apparently duct tape is a large part of your arsenal as well. The game also has a robust physics engine under the hood which allows for a lot of unique physics based puzzles. The fire system them have in play is also quite interesting. Anything that should be able to light on fire, can. You could start a chair on fire and use it as a torch until it burned down to your fingers. Got a solid oak door that you can't get through? No problem, just light it up and wait a few minutes until it's sufficiently weakened. This is another one of those games where you're better of just watching the videos. One last interesting thing about this game is that it is broken up into episodes like a tv show. The episodes all connect, but apparently don't all have to be played in a specific order. Alone in the Dark will be coming out on every console and the PC this June.

Star Wars: Force Unleashed

This one is entirely for the geek in me. I love Star Wars, so the opportunity to be able to run around as Darth Vader's secret apprentice while leaving a force induced path of destruction in my wake is about as good as it gets. And that's basically what this game is all about. What makes it unique though, is the two technologies being used to allow for that destruction. The first is called DMM, or digital molecular matter. This allows for the realistic breaking and bending of the things in the world. The other is called Euphoria, which is basically a sort of ragdoll AI. If you were to shoot someone in the game, instead of just instantly turning to a limp ragdoll, they would instead react to the impact and clutch at the wound. Or if you were to pick up a stormtrooper with the force, he will instinctively try to grab on to anything near him, even if it's another stormtrooper. Am I expecting this game to be deep? No, not at all, but I think it will be a really fun ride for Star Wars funs. It's been a while since there was a decent light saber weilding game released, so I think it's about time. The force will be unleashed this August. And on a side note, it's been reported that there is a level in the game where you actually get to play as Darth Vader on the wookie home world, and we all now what that means. Now we'll finally discover if wookies sound even more guttural as they're being force choked...

Well, that wraps up this series. Now hopefully some of these games will actually start coming out. I just saw some news that Killzone 2 got delayed until February of 09, so that's one off the list unfortunely, but there's still plenty to go around.

-gamer odd

Assassin's Creed Review

2008-04-28T22:47:00.000-07:00

Assassin's Creed is an action adventure game from the people at Ubisoft who made the more recent Prince of Persia games. You play as Altair, an Assassin with an attitude problem that gets him into trouble early on in the game.

STORY

I won't go to much into the story because the twists and turns are a large part of what's interesting about the game, but the basic premise is that you're an assassin during the crusades who is given the task of hunting down and killing various men of influence throughout the Holy Land. As with any good story, things aren't what they seem..... DUM DUM DUMMMMM!.......

GAMEPLAY

The gameplay of AC is all about getting around. You can travel on horse back through the country side to get to the cities in which you targets dwell. Once you get to a city and receive your mission, it usually comes down to finding the right person to talk to, completing a couple side missions, gaining access to your target, and killing him without drawing unnecessary attention to yourself. I'm over simplifying things a bit, but that's the general gist of it. Thankfully, as dull as it sounds for me to just say it like that, it's a lot of fun. The reason it's fun, is because you really can go anywhere. Jumping from rooftop to outcropping to pillar to haystack never felt so good. You simply hold down the A button as you run toward a wall or whatever, and you will automatically climb it or perform the appropriate action. That may sound dumbed down, but really it just means you won't be frustrated by constantly missing your jump.

If you go running around on the roofs like a nut, however, people will see you and react accordingly. Aside from all the gorgeous acrobatics, this is really a stealth game. You're invisible when you're doing things that are socially acceptable, like nonchalantly walking through a crowd. Once you start running through that crowd and knocking people over the guards will start to take notice. If you should make a guard decide you're a threat, you can either kill him, or try and run away and hide until the suspicion dies down.

The fighting in the game is also fairly simple. It mostly comes down to timing your blocking and swing right, and making sure you watch your back since most fights involve three or four guards. While it's nothing I would call revolutionary, the combat works well, and keeps things interesting. Generally it's something you're supposed to at least try and avoid though, since this really is more of a sneaking game. You gain different swords moves and abilities as you progress through the game. Some of the counter moves can get pretty brutal.

The assassinations themselves were usually interesting, although I felt like they didn't really require as much stealth as they should have. Some were harder to approach than others, but mostly they were pretty similar. Some times there would be archers to take out, or guards to distract, but usually you could just charge in without necessarily having to use all that much finesse.

And that brings me to probably the greatest complaint about this game. The repetition. The missions are all very similar. There isn't a lot of variety. Thankfully, what there is is fun enough to be worth doing several times over, but by the end I really wished they had changed things up a bit, or had more of a build up as to the kind of things they required of you. Don't get me wrong, sneaking into a massively fortified castle to make a kill is a blast, but when the assassination plays out all to similarly to the last 5 or 6, you just start to wish there was a little bit more variety to it.

GRAPHICS

This is one area I really can't fault them in. The cities are huge and detailed, with scores of pedestrians and soldiers and priests milling about. Unfortunately you can't generally go into most of the buildings, though it doesn't really take away from the experience since there are more than enough interesting things outside to look at. Every time I would climb onto some tall tower and look around, it never ceased to impress me. Then, of course, I would make a "leap of faith" into a hay stack a hundred feet below. That too never gets old either. The character models and animations are generally good, if not mind blowing.

PARENT'S GUIDE

You're an assassin in this game. Need I say more. There's no sexual content. You won't find any brothels in Damascus. There's blood and killing and that's about it. There's quite a bit of philosophy tossed about that will probably go right over most kids heads. There is definitely a lot of emphasis placed on the act of killing itself, at least when it comes to the particular targets. The guards don't get much mention, but you'll almost feel bad for killing the targets when they start casting doubt over your motives with their dying words. Not a game for most young kids in my opinion.

CONCUSSION

Assassin's Creed is fun. It really is. The repetition in gameplay is made up for by the fact that the core gameplay mechanics are fun enough to be worth going through for each mission, even if you probably won't be likely to play through it again, unless you just have to find all the flags that are hidden throughout the cities. I didn't. It's an open world game with some interesting twists. The world they've created is a sight to behold to be sure. The story is interesting, and definitely takes a few major twists by the end. I stated at the beginning that this was by the people that made Prince of Persia. This is definitely not Prince of Persia. There are acrobatics and swords, but the similarities really end there. AC is unique in many ways, and it does a lot of things very right. The things it does wrong may be enough to make you just want to rent it for a long weekend, however. None the less, it is definitely a gaming experience worth having.

-gamer odd

Most Anticipated Games of 2008: Part IV

2008-04-24T17:30:00.000-07:00

This post we'll check out two RPG's coming out this year that look like they show some promise. There are probably more than two good ones coming out this year, but these are the ones that seemed pretty sure bets.

ROLE PLAYING GAMES

Fable 2

The first Fable game on the original X-box was a good game. What it wasn't, however, was all that it had been talked up to be. Before its release, there were a lot of revolutionary features that it's creators were jabbering about that never actually came to fruition. Fable 2 looks like it will deliver on a lot of those promises. There is still relatively little known about the title. It is set several hundred years after the first game. You begin as a child and age over the course of the game. How much you fight, how good or evil you are, and how much you eat determines how your character looks as he ages. You can marry and have children. You can buy any house in the game for the right price. Apparently, if you buy every house in the whole kingdom people will start calling you the king. Another interesting gameplay element will be your dog. There are no buttons to control the dog, it's simply a matter of you interacting with his AI. For instance, if you're fighting, and your dog is wounded, you could just be a jerk and leave him limping around. But later on your might be playing cards in a tavern somewhere, and he'll come limping in, having looked for you in his doggy faithfulness. And that's basically what the makers of Fable II seem to really be going for. Giving you choices with real in game consequences, and then trying to get your emotions involved through that. We'll have to wait till this fall to find out when Fable II is released for the Xbox 360.

Fallout 3

To be honest, I've never played Fallout 1 or 2. I've heard some good things about them, but just never gotten around to them. So that fact that this is a sequel doesn't really interest me. What does interest me, is the fact that Bethesda is the developer making it. If you're not familiar with Bethesda, they're the people behind Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. If you don't know what Oblivion is, then you really need to play it, because it was by far the best RPG of its kind in recent memory. Well, it looks like Bethesda is putting just as much work into their next RPG. Unfortunately, there's very few details out on this one either, but what we do know is very appetizing. Like previous games, it takes place in a post-apocalyptic world. Fallout is about you coming out of the bunker you've been living in, and seeing how mad the world outside has become. Like Oblivion, there are lots of paths and choices to be had. There are some pretty big choices too. For instance, there is one town you go to that has an undetonated nuke at its center that stands as kind of monument. If you talk to the right person, they're ask you to set off the nuke for some kind of reward. You can chose either to ignore him, and continue to talk to the people in the town, and buy from the stores, or you can actually blow it up. You'll get the reward or whatever, but you lose those people and those stores, aside from the sleepless nights. Any aparently all those little and big choices make a difference, because the game has a reported 200 different endings. Unfortuneatly, I don't have any actual gameplay videos for this one, so the trailer and screen shots will have to suffice. Fallout 3 will hopefully be out sometime later this year.

Well, that's it for this addition. Just one more and I promise I'll be done...

-gamer odd

Burn the Rope

2008-04-15T21:32:00.000-07:00

This is the shortest game you will ever play, but that in no way means you won't have fun. I don't think there's much more I need to say about, other then you should definitely listen to the credits so that you can get that song stuck in your head as well...

-gamer odd

Unlimited Orange

2008-04-15T21:23:00.000-07:00

I may be straying somewhat from the realm of gaming with this post, but I just couldn't help myself. I came upon a website called Unlimited Orange. Basically, it's a endless website. It was essentially created as an ad, but it's still pretty impressive. You can just keep scrolling down and down, discovering little games to play, or just weird things to interact with. If you want to be totally creeped out, I highly recommend talking with the box that is almost at the top of the page. I think he's the fourth object down. Just talk to him...

-gamer odd

Most Anticipated Games of 2008: Part III

2008-04-01T21:08:00.000-07:00

On with part three of this rather lengthy list of hopefully good games coming out later this year. I'm a big fan of strategy games. Who doesn't love to lead loyal troops into epic battles from the safety of your desk?

STRATEGY

Spore

Of all the games in this list, this is probably the very furthest from the traditional idea of realtime strategy. The whole thing is essentially a cross between a sort of simulation, and several different genres of strategy games, mixed in with a little bit of The Sims, and all based around the theory of evolution. You start off as a single celled organism, which you can fully customize, and then from there you grow and evolve. At each stage of evolution you have the ability to fully model your character as you see fit. You have so much control, that you can even give you creature rear ends for eyes. Eventually, you build a society, and move out into space with your own UFO. All along the way you have the same amount of creative control over what all your buildings and vehicles look like. You really would like to fly around the stars in the USS enterprise? No problem! This game has a lot of potential. I think the real trick will be if it can actually maintain an enjoyable gameplay experience throughout all the customization and tinkering around with your world and creatures. At the very least, it should be a unique experience. This one is set to come out this fall for PC and possibly on a few consoles, assuming it isn't delayed again.

Starcraft II

The sequel to one of the best selling and most popular realtime strategy games of all time is bound to get some people excited, but none more so than the faithful fan of Blizzard in South Korea. They still play the now decade old Starcraft over there, but more than that, if you're a pro at it, then you're pretty much treated like a rock star. Needless to say, there's a lot of anticipation building up to the release of Starcraft II. Now will it actually come out this year? Possibly, but it wouldn't shock me if it were on a similar list in 2009. From what I've seen so far, it doesn't look like they've changed the formula of the original too much. It seems that they've built on that foundation, added no units, allowed for more varied strategies, and then polished the heck out of it. Will it be overhyped? Undoubtedly, but it just might still be a blast. This one will be coming out on the PC possibly later this year, or early in 2009.

End War

In general I don't even look at strategy games for consoles. I can play any genre with a game pad, but when it comes to strategy games, I just can't imagine giving up my mouse and keyboard. But then along game End War. Technically it's Tom Clancy's End War, but whatever. This little strategy game doesn't use a mouse and keyboard, or even a game pad much. Instead, it uses voice commands. You control your squads of troops, tanks, helicopters, or whatever, simply by issuing them commands. Sounds gimmicky, but from the hands on impressions I've read, it apparently works, and works quite well. Now if they can build a solid game around this, it could be one of the more unique strategy experiences around. Here's hoping. Look for this one on the 360 and PS3. No word yet on a PC version.

Halo Wars

I must confess, I love Halo. So my interest in this game at this point, is almost entirely based on that, because we have precious few details about the game at this point. It is, however, being made by Microsoft's Ensemble Studios. These are the people that made the Age of Empires series. I've spent a lot of time on those games, and I'm hoping that they can do a lot with the Halo Universe. The game takes place before the first Halo game, and before the fall of Reach, which means that there's not just Master Chief, but dozens of other Spartans at your service as well. That in and of itself sounds like enough reason for me to be excited about this one. This one is 360 exclusive I believe, but there's been rumors of a PC version, which would certainly be preferable.

That's it for the third part of games to look forward to this year. Next up, we'll take a look at a few RPG's that are taking things to the next level this year.

-gamer odd

Most Anticipated Games of 2008: Part II

2008-03-26T00:51:00.000-07:00

Here's the second installation this little series of posts. As I said earlier, these are some of the games that are supposedly coming out in 2008 that I think have the most potential based on what information is out on them at this point. So without further delay...

SHOOTER CONTINUED...

Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway

The first Brothers in Arms game was a surprise for me. There have been so many WWII shooters out as of late, that seems inconceivable to think that any new ones could come out and still do something original. Well, that exactly what the first BIA game did. With it's intense, and even appropriately disturbing vision of WWII mixed with a well implemented suppression mechanic and a very functional squad system, you couldn't help but love it. The latest installment looks to continue in the previous two games footsteps while adding a few more layers. The graphics have been much improved with the help of the unreal 3 engine. The environments feature far more destructibility. Those pesky Nazis won't be able to had behind wooden fences any more since you machine gun won't have any trouble ripping it to shreds in this game. This game looks like it want to try and further emphasize the relationships that soldiers have with each other in these hellish experience that they push through together. We'll have to wait till later this year to see if it succeeds. This game should be coming out on PC, 360, and PS3. For now, check out this developer walkthrough.

Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots

If you've never played through any of the Metal Gear games, then there's really no description that I can give you that will really sum them up. This one is the last in the series, or so they say. The Metal Gear games are basically stealth action games, but that's really an oversimplification. Wow, that's the long word. And speaking of long words, there's a lot of talking in a Metal Gear game. There's a monologue at the end of the second game that's practically a world view catalog. These games have very elaborate cutscenes with a great deal of philosophy woven into the story lines. This may sound TOO deep for a video game, but it's really more a movie that with gameplay where the commercials usually are. That's not a bad thing though, because the cutscenes are as high a quality as any Hollywood production. To sum up, this is probably the most anticipated title of the year. It's the one game that people will actually buy a PS3 for. After several delays, it is set to come to the PS3 this June. I could post one of the trailers below. If you haven't every played through any of the games, then it will look really cool, and make absolutely no sense. If you have played the games before, it'll still make little sense, but you might recognize some of the names mentioned. Instead of the actual trailer, I think I'll just post a little walkthrough of the some of the gameplay.

Believe it or not, that's actually all the shooters I've got in this list. I'm promise I'll have a few other genres for the next installment. Till then...

-gamer odd

The Room

2008-03-23T23:07:00.000-07:00

This was something that I stumbled upon quite some time ago. It isn't really a game, but some of the ideas that they show here are brilliant. They show some portals, similar to what we've seen in Portal or Prey, but they have some twists even on that basic concept that we've yet to see fully realized. Keep it mind, this video is around 3 years old I think, and it's still insanely cool looking. Just watch it!

My Most Anticipated Games of 2008: Part I

2008-03-22T10:03:00.000-07:00

Last year was a crazy good year for gaming. With titles like Bioshock, Halo 3, Call of Duty 4, Mass Effect, Rock Band, and many others all dropping within a matter of months of each other, it was a gaming goodness overload. And then we hit 2008. The start of the year following the holiday season rarely has any good releases, and it seems like you end up pretty much waiting all the way through to next holiday season before you see anything worthwhile. So in spite of this year's bleak beginnings, I started wondering if there were any games this year that I was really all that interested in, and sure enough, there were quite a few. So here's my personal most anticipated games of 2008 thus far.

SHOOTERS

Left 4 Dead

I love Valve. I've been a big fan of pretty much everything they've put out in the last decade, so it seems only right that I should start this list off with a FPS that they're working on called Left 4 Dead. It is a multiplayer game. There is no story mode with one. From what I've seen though, it sure doesn't need one. The basic concept is, that you and 3 other friends are put in the heads of 4 people who are trying to survive a zombie attack. You have to make your way to a waiting helicopter or whatever the means of escape happens to be. Your weapons and ammo are limited, and the zombie really pour in fast and furious, so it's going to take a lot of team work to make it through. Even better than this is the fact that 4 other people are playing special "boss zombies". These zombies are bigger and tougher than your average undead. The one I saw was a blubbery tub of lard zombie who had the particularly disgusting talent of projecting acidic vomit all over your team. If that doesn't sound like fun, then then there is no sanity left in the world. This one is supposedly being released this fall for PC and Xbox 360.

Resistance: Fall of Man 2

Very little is known about Resistance 2 at this point, but what we do know is more than enough to make this one of my most anticipated shooters of the year. The first game in the series, Resistance: Fall of Man, was one of the PS3 launch titles last year. Oddly enough, it was pretty darn good. It didn't make any huge innovations, but it did most everything with such a high level of polish, that it was simply a joy to play. Resistance 2, however, seems to be pushing things far beyond the boundaries that its predecessor adhered to. All we know, is that unlike the first game, which dealt with the chimera invasion of england, this throws you into battles that range all across the United States, as the chimera stage a massive invasion. This might not mean a lot to you if you haven't touched the first game, so I'll cut to the stuff that should at least intrigue you. The game has a standard single player story campaign. It'll probably be great, but hey, nothing new there. However, it also has an entirely different campaign made specifically for co-op play. And this isn't just any old co-op, this one lets up to 8 players play through the campaign together. And then there's multiplayer portion, will support up to 60 players on a single server! I'm afraid there's no video of this one up yet, but here's a few screen shots of the single player portion. This one will be releasing this fall on the Playstation 3

Killzone 2

I hated the the first Killzone game. I was so bored after 15 minutes that I put it down and never touched it again. So why is its sequel on this list? Well, because if you watch the trailer, it at least doesn't look boring. This is one game that I really don't have any details on. It's another Playstation 3 exclusive, and Sony has really pumped this one up, so here's hoping it delivers. I probably have more reservations about this game, than almost any of the rest on the list, but I think it has great potential. Here's hoping it delivers. Take a gander at the trailer and see what you think.

Far Cry 2

Far Cry 2 is, obviously, the sequel to Far Cry. In many ways, people looked at Crysis as a sequel, or at least spiritual successor, because it was made by Crytek, the people who made the original Far Cry. Apparently Crytek doesn't own the Far Cry IP any more though, because the sequel is being made by Ubisoft. By default it has some similarities to Crysis in that you have a nice big open world, lots of different ways to approach each situation, real time light, and pretty pretty foliage. It isn't, however, just another clone. Unlike Crysis or the original Far Cry, this game takes place in the middle of the African savanna. There is reactive foliage, that moves to the touch, can be shot appart, and even bends and breaks when the weather picks up. The weather, as it happens, is completely dynamic, with clouds and storms forming "naturally". Apparently a big element in Far Cry 2 will be fire. As you can imagine, it would only make sense that if someone gives you a flame thrower, and you need to take out an enemy camp which happens to be set in the middle of a dry grassy plain, that you simply need to get upwind of it and light up. This game will let you do just that. Another interesting twist, is the health system in the game. If you get shot in the leg for instance, you will continue to bleed out until you stop for a second and actually take your knife and pull the bullet out of the affect area, and then slap a bandage on it. Apparently you can also contract malaria, which, if untreated, will cause you to start seeing things. As far as gameplay, one interesting, if mean, example that was given was an instance where you could take your rifle, and shoot someone in an enemy camp in, say, the leg. Then, instead of finishing him off, you would sit and wait for his buddies to come out to try and help him, and then pick them off. Definitely mean, but pretty cool that you can count on the AI to be so caring of their comrades. This one is coming out on PC, Xbox 360, and PS3, most likely this fall.

That's all for this edition. I've got more coming, and yes, they're not all shooter, I just decided to start with that category because it was the biggest. Until next time...

-gamer odd

Review: Crysis

2008-03-17T21:50:00.000-07:00

This was a game that I looked forward to for a LONG time. I am a complete graphics freak. I love pretty graphics. I get killed in games because I'll stop and stare at a particularly nice texture. I died a LOT in Crysis.

GRAPHICS

Let me just talk about the graphics to start with because that really is the most apparent merit of this game when you first load it up. Now let me preface this by saying that I have a quad core intel Q600 2.4 ghz, 4 gigs of 800mhz ram, an Nvidia 8800GTX, and Windows Vista 64bit, and I can almost turn the graphics all the way up. So yeah, it'll make your computer shed tears of inadequacy unless you're NASA. Even on the medium-high settings though, the game is still gorgeous.

Warning!!! This is the part where I'm just going to gush uncontrolably about how pretty everything is. If you're not a graphics freak, then just skip to the next section.

The water.... oh the sweet water. It's mind blowing how good it looks. You can't actually scoop it up with a bucket, but in every single other sense, it's physically there with you in the game. The waves move up and down. It's not just a pretty reflective surface. There actual polygons in those waves. If you should decide to take a dip into the oh so wet looking water, you'll be greeted by a beatutiful sea bed, lit by light shafts filtering through the water above. Crabs scury along the bottom, and schools of fish dart out of your way. And if you're lucky, or maybe unlucky, you might even run into a shark.

The lighting is incredible. I remember when Doom 3 came out a few years ago how impressed I was at all the real time shadows. Well, Crysis is like that, except your outside, and the shadows move as the time of day changes, and they're soft, and every single blade of grass, and every leaf is casting one.

The foliage is second to none, and the fact that the palm fronds brush against you and move as you walk by is just gravy. You can also shoot the trees to bits. And it's not like you've seen in other games where they just tip over, or break at a predetermined spot. No, it will break exactly where you're shoot at it, and you can literally spend all day just chopping wood.

Explosions are important to me. Good explosions can save a mediocre shooter for me, and Crysis has some incredible ones. There's a great variety of explosions for the various weapons and vehicles. Grenades feel appropriately impactful and jarring. The explosion that really takes the cake however, the tactical nuke in the multiplayer. I'll get more into the multiplayer later, but as for the nuke, it is every bit as awe inspiring and massive as you would expect it to be in real life. No one can help but say "whoa" when they first see that shock wave rushing toward them as the fiery mushroom cloud soars skyward. Unless you're like me of course and acidently fire your first nuke directly at your feet. Then you'll just say "crap".

The first two thirds of the game take place in the various jungle locals of the island you're on. The last third changes the environment up a bit though, and adds some great atmosphere. I won't say much more about that though for fear of spoiling it.

Alright, that's it for the graphics, you can start reading again.

GAMEPLAY

This is an FPS, so you should know what to expect here if you've ever played one before. Where Crysis innovates is in the use of the nano suit. This is the suit you wear througout the game that essentially makes you a super hero. The nano suit is controlled by holding down the middle mouse button and selecting one the four suit abilities. You have a energy meter that limits how much you can use any one ability. The default is the armor mode. This essentially turns that energy meter into a second health bar. The strength mode allows you to, jump extremely high, which is nice when a hummer is driving at you full tilt. Strength is also nice for, oh I don't know, grabbing chickens and throwing them out into the ocean? Yes, you can do that. You can pick up most anything actually, including the North Korean baddies. You can grab one and even use him as a shield while you fire with the other hand. Next, you have speed mode, which basically turns you into the flash. This mode uses your energy very quickly so you'll only get short bursts, but when you're trying to dodge bullets, that's all you need. You also have a cloaking mode that makes you mostly invisible. It's great seeing the AI react to you suddenly vanishing before their eyes and just start firing blindly, hoping to hit you.

Let's talk about that AI. Sometimes I was shocked at how well the AI manuevered and out flanked me. But there were a few occasions in some of the close combat when the AI didn't react at all. Playing on the harder difficulty levels seemed to mostly cure this, but there is still some patchiness that should be noted.

There are a lot of weapons at your disposal in Crysis. Almost all of them can be customized on the fly with different scope, grenade launchers, laser sights, and stuff like that. Heck, you can even stick a huge sniper scope on your shot gun if you feel like it.

Most the gameplay is fairly non linear in that you can complete your missions in whatever order you chose, but you are still moving in a linear path, as is simply necessary to keep the game moving. The later levels become extremely linear, because of the environment you're in. I didn't feel like this was a problem though and kind of enjoyed the change in pace.
There are a few vehicle sections, which work pretty well for the most part and serve to break up the gameplay.

Overall, the game manages to maintain a good level of excitement and tension throughout. I If you've played many shooter before, you'll definitely want to stick with the higher difficulty settings to get the most out of the experience.

The only disappointing thing I can think of as far as gameplay goes, would have to be the final boss. The actual death of said boss is very sweet, but the fight itself is lack luster. Doesn't really take away from the game much, but there you go.

STORY

What can I say about the story. It's your pretty typical science fiction. Interesting enough to keep you playing, but don't mistake this for anything as deep as say, Bioshock, or as well told as Half Life 2: Episode 2. The over all story is actually fairly decent, but the dialog is all pretty bland. The cut scenes are done from within the characters perspective. You don't have control during most of these, but it still works well, and doesn't jolt you out of the game with a cut scene.

MULTIPLAYER

The multiplayer is the large scale sort that you would expect to find in the Battlefield series. The main mode is called "Power Struggle". Each map has a US base and a North Korean base. The ultimate goal is to acquire nuclear or alien weapons and destroy the opposing base. The way you do this is by capturing power stations, and holding them for long enough to build up enough power to make these WMD's available at the prototype facility which you have hopefully captured as well. There is a great deal of weaponry that you can by with the points you get for either making a kill, or capturing something. All the nano suit abilities are present, with a few balancing tweaks. Over all, the multiplayer is a whole lot of fun. I will say though, that it has an extremely steep learning curve. It is pretty deep, which makes it difficult to just pick up, but very rewarding in the long run.

PARENT'S GUIDE

If you wouldn't take your kid to see an R rated movie, then I wouldn't let them play this game. There is R rated cursing, and it is a shooter, so there is obviously plenty of violence, although there is an option to turn off the blood. There's no sexual content whatsoever.

CONCLUSION

The best way to sum up Crysis is just to say that it's a great ride. And that really is what it feels like. You go from one impressive set piece to the next with some intense firefights and beautiful views in between. As I said above, the narrative isn't deep, but it never takes away from the experience. Singleplayer experience isn't incredible long. If you've played a lot of games it'll probably take you 8-10 hours to finish. Because of the amount of options you have in any given situation however, the game really never plays through the same way twice, so another run through is definitely not out of the question. If you take the time to get into the multiplayer, it will keep you occupied for a very long time.

Over all, I would highly recommend this game to any shooter fan who's PC will forgive them for running it. It definitely has set the bar high, particularly in the visuals but also in the gameplay.

Space Ship Load of Indie Games

2008-03-15T08:53:00.000-07:00

I came across some great lists of free independent pc games recently. The main list of 101 games can be found here. There's also some decent top down shooters over here. The list of 101 has some of the best ones however. Sumatori is a sweet little jem. Who wouldn't want to duke it out with physics based sumo wrestlers in full 3d? Pnumbera is pretty decent as well. It has shockingly good graphics for a freeware game actually. They just made a full fledged in stores sequel I believe. Armada Online is actually kind of a fun for a free MMO. It's basically a space shooter that other people happen to be playing at the same time.

If that isn't enough though, then check out the Freeware Database. By the time you get through all those the sun will have died. Well that should be enough to keep everyone entertained for the weekend at least. Enjoy!

-gamer odd

The Machines We Play

2008-03-10T23:33:00.000-07:00

I suppose if you're going to listen to me say anything about games or gaming, your probably want to know what I play, right? Well, I'm going to tell you anyway. First off, I don't really have any particular console bias. Why, because I own them all, so there would be no point. I currently own a psp, ds, ps3, wii, xbox 360, and a tricked out gaming pc. How is that even possible for a married man? Well, thankfully, my amazing wife is a gamer as well. Yes, I am indeed severely blessed.

If I had to pick a favorite genre, it'd probably be fps. But I love realtime strategy games, rpg's, action adventure, independent games, and platforming games as well. There aren't really any genres that I dislike, although, I will admit that I don't currently own any fighting games. Main just because I've always sucked at them. I'm thinking about giving them another go since Super Smash Bros Brawl just came out, but we'll see.

Currently I'm playing through Army of Two with a friend, and working on beating the last couple levels of Call of Duty 4 on the Hardened difficulty level. My proudest achievement of late however, is that I was finally able to beat Halo 3 on Legendary by myself. Brutal, but satisfying.
So anway, that's me. Love all sorts of games, and have the hardware to play any of them on.

-gamer odd

An Intro

2008-03-09T17:04:00.000-07:00

Introduction

This little blog you're now reading is just a little a result of my deep enjoyment of games. Video games and computer games namely. I started gaming on my parents 486 back when I was 8 and I haven't stopped since.
So why write a blog about it? Well, in part this will be about gaming, but also I want to post some reviews as well.

Reviews

Reviews are kind of tricky. A journalist plays a game, write something about it, and then gives it a number. Perhaps he decides to give the game 4 out of 5 stars, or a 7.5 out of 10. Ultimately what it comes down to though, is that a review, is just telling the experience that one person had with that particular game. If he gives it a good review, that doesn't mean everyone will like it, and vice versa.
So why am I bothering to write reviews? I mean, goodness knows you can get all the reviews in the world at places like this. Well, if you're like me, or in reading this blog find that you enjoy similar games as I do, or dislike similar things in gaming, then my reviews will be more tailored to you. If your opinions don't line up with mine, then you'll know to get the games I don't recommend.
One other reason I'll be putting up some reviews is because I'm a dad, and not all reviews deal with content that would be questionable for kids. I'd like to preface that by saying that I don't think that video games make kids kill each other. That doesn't mean every kid should be able to play every game. Ultimately, it's the parent's responsibility. Not the ESRB, or the government. Just us. So if you know what's in the games, then you can make a reasonable choice about in regards to letting your kids play them. Simple as that.
On a side note, if anyone should have a request for a review of a specific game that I don't have up, just let me know, and I'll see what I can do.

Enjoy!

Hopefully you'll enjoy this site, as I know I'll enjoy posting. Whether this is read by many, or just me, it's always fun to put thought into print, and that is what I intend to do.

-gamer odd